What makes a good portfolio website?
A portfolio website includes some information about you, a clear outline of your skills and professional history, and a gallery of your work. That’s it! Don’t over-complicate it or water it down with miscellaneous information or pictures of your dog. The website is there to convey information clearly in a way that showcases your style.
Artists, photographers, and designers need to showcase their work, so images are important. We’ll use images, image descriptions, and keywords to help potential clients find your unique artistic niche. Highlighting your shows, openings, and portfolio, I will tailor your SEO to draw the attention of the people you’re looking to attract.
I am uniquely qualified to build artist websites
I have worked in the creative sector my entire 30-year career. With a BFA in design and a 25-year career in live theatre, I understand the needs of artists and designers in the performing arts. Because I managed and hired artisans for over sixteen years, I know what employers want from a portfolio.
We can work together to build a website that will showcase your work, impress clients, and get high rankings by search engines.
My artist website includes pages for my resume, theatre work and furniture design.
Types of performing arts sites
Performers
Whether an actor, dancer, musician, acrobat, or stunt double, it’s important to highlight your personality and the type of work you prefer. With casting profiles, a resume, headshots, and links to your shows and social media profiles, we’ll give casting agents a clear view of who you are and why they want you in their productions.
Thoroughly labeling your photos, we’ll make sure that search engines know you’re in the picture, which production you’re in and where, and which roles you played. Adding this information to the metadata of your site will help Google and Safari know who you are and who to send to your site.
Designers
If you’re a sound, lighting, costume, or scenic designer, there’s no better place than a website to feature your work. This is an online CV, but a website goes above and beyond a resume and cover letter. A carousel of quotes from colleagues and reviews will highlight your connections and recognitions.
Images, videos, and audio round out your site design to immerse the visitor in your artistic vision. With the proper keyword research and SEO for images we’ll make sure Google and Safari know who you are and who might be interested in your work.
Jeffrey Designs' website
My client Jeffrey’s website showcases his artwork through images, a downloadable resume, and a contact form.
Writers focus on their published works
Whether you write scripts, children’s books, novels, or you’re a technical writer for a trade journals, we’ll describe your body of work to attract the types of clients you want. We’ll include links to online publications, retail sites where printed books and scripts can be found, and perhaps excerpts of writing. Pictures of book covers and illustrations draw the viewer’s eye and reinforce product recognition.
My client Sally is a science writer, but as is appropriate for a wordsmith’s site, hers distinguishes between published works and blog posts. Potential employers can distinguish her different types of work at a glance.
Theatre artisans and technicians
Do you specialize in helping colleagues realize their artistic visions? Prop artisans, scenic carpenters, charge artists, drapers and cutters, master electricians and sound engineers, can all benefit from having a website that catalogs their skill set, show history, and professional affiliations.
Images, designer quotes, and links to shows you’ve helped build and run will strengthen your SEO and show visitors the depth of your experience and expertise. You are the backstage, unsung heroes of the arts, and it’s time we brought you forward.
Website Deal
Building a website with me is straightforward. You bring me your materials (see below), we collaborate, I build and we launch. There are no hidden costs: you’ll get an estimate upfront before we begin work; you can see my basic price list below.
What you bring me
- Your resume / CV
- Copy you would like on your website: about me, the type of work you prefer, stories from your work history, or any other wordsmithing that will help viewers understand who you are and what you do
- Images with captions (I’ll give you a guideline)
- Corporate identity if you have it. That is: color palette, fonts, logo, and design aesthetic
What I will do
- Help you organize your materials to create an easy to navigate site. We’ll make sure potential clients can understand your work at a glance, as well as get an in-depth understanding of your work.
- We’ll develop and implement a keyword strategy, tailor your copy, and implement SEO that will attract the right people to your unique work.
- I will help you set up hosting and domain name. Then I will install WordPress, design, and build your site.
- I’ll design and build your site so it works well on desktop, tablets, and phones.
- We’ll establish monthly maintenance so I can keep your site up to date and working smoothly.
- If you want, I can make you an email address that matches your domain name. I highly recommend this, as it lends an air of professionalism that goes above generic Gmail or Hotmail addresses.
- If you want to include a blog, I’ll build a template and teach you how to use it. With a blog you can keep your clients updated on your most recent work and increase the number of people who find you via your website.
Timeline & process
- To start, we will zoom for an hour to discuss your site. We’ll zoom a second time when I walk you through buying your domain name and hosting.
- If you already have a corporate identity package, I’ll design the site around that If you don’t, we’ll work together to design something that will complement your body of work.
- Once I have your materials, hosting, and domain name, a basic portfolio website can normally be finished within four to six weeks.
- During build time we’ll stay in touch at least twice a week so you can monitor progress and give me feedback. I believe in keeping my clients in the loop, so we’ll be in touch regularly and I’ll welcome your input every step of the way.
- Once we think we’re done, we will launch the site but not announce it. This stage gives us two advantages. The first is that we can make sure everything works. Internet gremlins are a thing, and viewing the site live will sometimes show us issues we didn’t see while building. Think of it as an invited dress. At this stage I recommend you ask several friends and peers to review the site and give us feedback. They will use a variety of devices (phones, computers, tablets), and we can make sure it looks good on all of those. And TBH, they’ll catch typos we haven’t noticed.
- When we launch, I’ll announce it on my website, social media, and in my next newsletter. We’ll establish monthly website updates, wherein I spend up to an hour making sure your site is running smoothly and all the software is up to date. During this hour, I can make small changes such as swapping out images or copy.
Pricing
There are no hidden costs with my service – you’ll know the final price up-front so you can make an informed decision about your investment.
Half of the fee is due upon signing a contract and the remainder is due upon launch.
Basic Portfolio website
Initial outlay = $1000
Three pages: Home/about me, Resume/CV, and Portfolio
20 images
Email contact button or popup
Ongoing expenses are
Annual domain name = $10
Monthly maintenance = $30
Monthly SiteGround Hosting = $20
Possible additional costs
Each image over 20 = $20 each
Logo = $300
Blog template & zoom tutorial = $300
Connect with existing Mailchimp account = $50
So, not sure whether you want a site?
Give me a shout and we can talk about it. I offer free 30-minute consultations via phone or Zoom where we can discuss your needs and options.
